Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, visited the city on December 24 and greeted the crowds in Bethlehem.

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: APAwire CLIENTS ONLY SHOTLIST: APAwire - APAwire CLIENTS ONLY, Bethlehem, 24 December 2021. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, greets people as he arrives to attend Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, in the West Bank.

STORYLINE:

Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many countries, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season organized around it.

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